


Burning in the Night (1999)

by lucasquinn



Series: Sharing a World [4]
Category: Primeval, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, dragon!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 20:43:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucasquinn/pseuds/lucasquinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loss is still loss for both humans and dragons</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burning in the Night (1999)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a big jump into the AU world. Primeval but actually set in the future of the Temeraire Universe. There are still anomalies, there's still a team and there is even a research centre (yet unnamed). There has also been a slight twist in evolution somewhere along the line and one more sentient species shares the Earth with humans, dragons. Thanks to fredbassett all fics so far posted have been betaed.
> 
> One last thing, I might not have mentioned it in the intro but the number next to the title is the year the story takes place in since I tend to jump around in the timeline with this.

Screams and indistinct yelling in an unknown language fill the night. Humans run around outside the cave he’s kept in, shouting orders that are just as incompressible to him and maybe just for that reason, even more frightening. Chandra tries to stretch his long neck to take a look at what is going on outside but they have him chained too deep into the cave, and the links and the huge lock are so heavy he can barely lift his body up from the ground because of them.

Suddenly, heavy steps come in his direction, running, until finally a human shaped shadow comes out of the tree line. Recognition is instant.

“Ryan!” But no one else comes after him and now there are no more sounds coming from outside the cave. Chandra desperately tries to fight against the chains, to break them or wiggle his way free but nothing works and the young Lieutenant is not coming any closer.

“Tom, where is Julian? The rest of the crew?”

Ryan still doesn’t move but the dragon can see his face is pale and blank in the night. “They’re gone Chandra, all of them.” The broken words are spoken softly, as if Ryan can’t even believe them himself. “They …. the militia took them away, one by one, I could hear them screaming, but there was nothing I could do.”

Chandrakant’s loud roar of pain echoes through the cave and out into the now empty night. It seems to go on forever, filling a hole that is now gaping inside his heart but it is only an illusion. As soon as the sound falters and disappears, the piece of his soul that has been ripped away makes itself known all over again, gnawing at his essence like a bloody leech.

Tom falters for a moment under the onslaught of sound, his knees finally giving away and he lands on the hard packed ground at the mouth of the cave. He’s not moved closer yet and all Chandra needs to do right now is to reach him and wrap himself around the last remaining part of his crew and take him away, keep him safe like he couldn’t do with Julian, Hamish and Sean.

He keeps struggling, mindless of the dark blood seeping from the wounds and scratches, the chains are digging into his hide until finally something snaps in a flash of blinding hot pain and he’s free.

In a moment he’s shrugged off the rest of the chains and he’s standing over the soldier, the dark heavy scent that he’s been smelling for what feels like forever - since the screaming started in the militia camp – becomes stronger. Ryan’s dark combats are soaked in it and Chandra barely holds back another anguished roar as he realises that the Lieutenant is covered in blood. He hopes against hope that it’s not all his, but Ryan is still kneeling down and won’t even lift his head to look at him and dispel his fears.

The dragon doesn’t realise his foreleg is broken until he tries to gather the young human close. He doesn’t feel any pain from his injuries, only the gaping emptiness inside where his crew should be.

He reaches out with his other foreleg, gathers Ryan carefully against his chest and they are airborne in the next heartbeat.

As they fly, Chandra can see the militia camp under them. Nothing is moving. The clearing is littered with bodies and for a moment the dragon flinches at the bright fire enveloping one of the small wooden shacks dotting the enemy camp.

Suddenly he knows why only one of them is afire and why Ryan is not telling him to land to pick up the bodies of his Captain and crew. One more roar fills the now empty night, echoing through the trees and the valleys, calling out without any expectation of being answered. Chandra’s hold on Ryan tightens slightly, as he brings his broken forelimb higher to cup around the soldier as well. He ignores the pain and pushes himself as hard as he can towards home, and safety for the last one of his crew.

In the protective shelter of the dragon’s limbs the young Lieutenant is curled into a ball, pain lancing through his body at every jerk of movement caused by the small dragon’s flight. With a soft sob Ryan finally loses his fight against the tears that have been threatening to spill out ever since he set fire to the shack his Captain and crew mates’ tortured and mangled bodies had been laid in. As unconsciousness finally overtakes him, his grip around the three sets of dog tags in his hand tightens and he can feel the edge biting into his flesh. Then, blessedly, there is no more pain.


End file.
